Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Neurological problems in dogs and cat after liver surgery?
By Yool, D A & Kirby, B M·Published in The Journal of small animal practice·2002·Hospital for Small Animals·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Neurological dysfunction in three dogs and one cat following attenuation of intrahepatic portosystemic shunts.
Plain-English summary
A 3-year-old mixed-breed dog, a 5-year-old Labrador, a 2-year-old Dachshund, and a 4-year-old cat developed neurological problems after surgery to correct liver shunts. Within a day or two after the surgery, the dogs showed signs like seizures, and unfortunately, two of them died during treatment. The cat had ongoing neurological issues but improved significantly and was doing well 37 months later. This situation highlights the risks of neurological complications after surgery for liver shunts in pets.
People also search for: dog seizures after liver surgery · cat recovery from liver shunt surgery · neurological problems in dogs after surgery
Abstract
Neurological dysfunction is an uncommon complication following extrahepatic portosystemic shunt ligation. Three dogs and one cat are described that developed neurological signs within 21 to 42 hours of attenuation of intrahepatic portosystemic shunts. None of these cases had biochemical evidence of hepatic encephalopathy postoperatively. Two dogs died during management of status epilepticus following aspiration of food. One dog died six months postoperatively. The cat had persistent neurological dysfunction at discharge, but was alive and had recovered most of its neurological function at the time of writing, 37 months after surgery. This report demonstrates the potential for animals with intrahepatic portosystemic shunts to develop postoperative neurological signs and highlights the difficulty of managing such cases. Two dogs had both intrahepatic and extrahepatic portosystemic shunts. Large intestinal malrotation (partial situs inversus) may have been linked to the development of a portosystemic shunt in the remaining dog.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11996394/